Xương Summer
by Timballisto
Summary: Wally knows it's going to be hard, hard for both of them, and he'd like nothing better than to hide Artemis away from the tragedy that their lives have become, and simultaneously, drag her into his world and make her stay. AU Invasion , Spitfire.
1. Chapter 1: Beginning

This is an AU of Invasion after season 1 of Young Justice- mostly Spitfire.

Wally is still part of the team, Artemis ran off to Vietnam for 5 years for reasons that will be revealed. She's been really out of touch- she doesn't know about Kaldur or M'gann and Conner ect. However, this is not going to be a rehash of Invasion with Artemis thrown in there. I hate those.

Mostly Artemis and Wally Spitfire with occasional changes in POV. Also, Angst.

* * *

Wally _hated_ the jungle.

It was one of the few places in the world where he couldn't run as fast and as far as he pleased- the underbrush, quicksand, and thick trees saw to that. He felt confined, restricted- trapped.

It figured that she'd choose someplace like this.

"_Nhanh lên__!" _His guide sprang forward across a crude rope bridge, turning back to gesture him to move faster. _"__Cô sẽ __sớm bỏ đi ngay__!"_

"I'm coming!" Wally grumbled, picking up his pace. If he were in uniform right now he'd-

"This way." The girl said, her English choppy and her accent guttural. Her sallow, thin face was shining in the half-light filtering through the canopy- she reminded Wally uncomfortably of some war orphan from a flickering documentary; a smudged starving face that never quite aged.

Above their heads, the trees buzzed with insects and birds flitted from tree to tree. The air was filled with a low hum that vibrated through Wally's bones. It made the place seem old- ancient even, and full of something that he didn't quite understand.

God, he hated jungles.

"This way." Wally caught sight of the edge of the girls shift as she slipped into the shadows between two looming boulders. The speedster checked over his shoulder, narrowing his eyes at the encroaching darkness. Then he followed.

"_Đây là nó__.__"_ Her voice echoed in the dark tunnel. She pointed towards the far end, a silver dime of light that dimly lit the rock around him. "She is there."

And then she was gone, melted back into the shadows as if she'd never existed.

Taking a deep breath, Wally walked on. His boots scraped against the floor, grating against the silence. Water dripped onto the back of his neck. Anxiety roiled in his stomach and he could taste the protein bar he'd eaten an hour ago in the back of his throat. "Deep breaths." Wally muttered to himself, taking another shaky, measured breath. "No pressure- this is only the girl who broke your heart and disappeared off the face of the Earth. Take another breath-"

He broke out into the sunshine, and there she was.

"Artemis?"

She started violently, twisting in her seat, throwing her arm out. Something white flashes, pearly in the light, and he dodges and turns in one smooth movement to watch it thud into the rock behind him- out of the corner of his eye he can see blood drip from her hand and she doesn't even flinch.

"Wally." She's trying to get composed again, but he can see the flutter of her pulse in her neck and he knows that she knows she could have killed him. If he'd been a second slower he'd be dead, probably. He looks back, noting how the rock was split like wood from the force behind the throw. Definitely dead.

And that's worrying, because he'd thought she'd have improved since he last saw her. Jumping at shadows, worrying tremors in her hands- if he looks carefully he can see them and he wonders if it's because of the changes or just him-

"What do you want?" Artemis is on her feet and defensive. Her face is tighter, more stretched; she looks _so old_ at twenty that it's a little heartbreaking. Maybe if she'd stayed, had taken the hand the team had offered her instead of running off into the middle of nowhere to figure out what that Venom had done to her-

"We need you." Wally said instead, his eyes matching hers. "M'gann found out what happened during the 16 hours-"-her eyebrows go up and stay there; she remembers, how could she forget? - "and they have to go fix it. Off world."

Artemis slumped. "Help, huh?" She tugs at a lock of her hair. It's dyed black, and even though it can't fool Wally, he knows that to the casual observer she looks like just another Vietnamese native, going about her business. She's clad in rough cotton trousers and a Coke-a-Cola T-shirt; Wally wants to laugh, but she'd probably make an exception to her rule about maiming and kill him.

"I …can't." The defeated posture, the soft words- this is _not _Artemis. He knew he should have ignored Batman (just once, just for her) and come visit her. It's not like her location was much of a Team secret- not for the Seniors anyway. He should have come and followed up on the New Year's kiss, on _whatever_ they'd had before… before…

Before a lot of things.

Wally knows it's going to be hard, hard for both of them, and he'd like nothing better than to hide Artemis away from the tragedy that their lives have become, and simultaneously, drag her into his world and make her stay.

"Please."

Artemis closes her eyes, knowing that he'd already won. If he'd yelled, demanded, ordered – she could have said no. But Wally, damn him, he knew that if he just asked nicely (It was a rare thing for her to get a thank you, a please, a congratulations) he could get her to do anything.

He had a dangerous power over her, but, as she cautiously took his hand, she really couldn't find it in herself to say no.

* * *

How do you like this style? Too memoir-y, hard to follow? Some feedback please.


	2. Chapter 2: Rising Action

New chapter, 2 out of 5 planned... maybe a happy epilogue or somethin'. Who knows?

Anyway, don't own anything. If I did, Invasion would have a lot more Wally n' Artemis kicking ass and taking names. Spitfire!Badassness!

* * *

It had been easy to accept Wally's proposal out in the middle of the wilderness,

miles and miles away on the other side of the world. Vietnam was comfortable to her, like a second skin. She had dim memories of toddling around her grandparent's garden, and the soft words of some forgotten song whispered in her ear. After that, it was a rapidly clearing blur of moving from place to place across the world after her assassin parents, staying in vaguely recognizable apartments in almost every major city on the globe.

"This was the longest I'd ever spent in one place, you know." Artemis said blandly, looking around the rough little camp set up in the gorge. It was sort of pathetic looking but she hadn't ever taken the time to make it comfortable, even after five years. She'd had other things to worry about.

"What about Gothem?" Wally's voice was muffled by his arm as he slung his pack to the ground, heaving a sigh of relief at the burden gone.

"Gothem…" Artemis hesitated. So much had happened in that city. "I suppose, if you squinted, you could say it was home. It's where I lived when I was with the Team, but other than that…" she shrugged. "A year was a long time for me." But it had been a good one.

It had been the years after that made everything sour. That promising New Year, the one where they'd proven themselves to the League beyond a shadow of a doubt had faded like early morning mist in the face of the tragedies that had struck each member of the team down, one by one.

Despite how easy it had been to say yes, she doubted she would feel the same way when she was face to face with what she'd been running from for the past five years.

* * *

Artemis stepped out of the zeta tube warily, tense enough that the muscles in her neck were easily visible. Despite all of her talk, she was grateful that the main area of Mt. Justice was apparently deserted. She doubted she could face anyone as she was- dirty and hair dyed- with any sort of dignity, or preserve any of her probably already shredded reputation.

"I made sure that Nightwing kept the freshmen busy." Wally's hand came up to touch her shoulder, guiding her forward into the familiar unknown. It's as comforting as it is unsettling and Artemis shifts just enough that his fingers slip off of her, coming to hang at his side listlessly. Wally ignores this. "This way you can get… cleaned up."

Artemis let out a small bark of laughter. She'd been living in the jungle like a barely civilized wild woman for the past half-decade; she'd never heard such an understatement in her life. Wally's answering grin is relieved and the happiest she'd seen him since he showed up.

He is different, but exactly the same. Artemis could only hope that she'd managed these five years half as well.

"...shit." Wally muttered as his watch begins to beep and wail. Artemis raises an eyebrow. Since when did the wholesome Kid Flash curse? "Listen, I've gotta get back to Central City. The Trickster is, well, up to his tricks again." He ran his hand through red hair in agitation, obviously caught between making sure Artemis gets settled in and his duty to his city. IT's a strange feeling, to know that Wally would want to see her settled at all, especially since all he seems to do is _un_settle her.

"Go." Artemis said, hoisting her duffle on her shoulder and giving him a reassuring smirk that was so _Artemis_ that he couldn't help but relax. "Superhero-y stuff always comes first, Kid Stupid." She shakes her head at him, as if disappointed. "If Batman were here…"

"Yeah, yeah." Wally mumbled, grinning as he turned to take the zeta tube. "I'll be back in a few hours. Don't kill any of the freshies- the League gets whiny when we dent their shiny new superheroes."

Artemis waved him off, already heading toward her old room and the communal showers. The flash of zeta light and the robotic voice that echoed after her were the only indications that anyone had ever been there at all.

So she was left, walking halls that were hauntingly familiar. Artemis took a deep breath, trying to identify that feeling that was welling up from her stomach. She'd felt it before, vaguely, when Wally had dragged her from her solitude. She paused at her door, touching the keypad with fond reverence.

It was like coming home.

Or something.

She entered, absently typing the six digit code that she supposed had never been changed and sighed happily when her door slid open with a hiss. Her room sat undisturbed- free of dust- but still entirely hers. Artemis tossed her bag onto the forest green bedspread, barely resisting the urge to flop down herself. Instead, she made her way to the small bathroom unit, quietly shutting the door behind her and pouring the hot water on full blast. The bathroom immediately began to steam, dampening the back of Artemis's neck and moistening her skin. She moaned happily as she stripped and stepped under the warm water- how long had it been since she took a real hot shower?

Too long, Artemis thought ruefully, watching rivers of black descend from her dyed hair. Plumbing hadn't been the most plentiful commodity in her little piece of Vietnam.

Still, she felt refreshed and, for the first time in a long time, almost like herself. Her hair was blonde again, the cheap dye washing out with only three shampooing's, and the shiny, stretchy scars that covered her arms and back ached less than usual.

Artemis smiled into the hazy mirror, her eyes lidded and her cheeks flushed with heat.

Today was a good day.

* * *

Today was a very bad day.

La'gann growled as he strode into the kitchen, ripping open the fridge with enough force to rattle its hinges.

"Stupid Superboy." He growled, grabbing a soda before slamming the fridge shut again. "He _broke up with her_; I shouldn't have to feel self-conscious about kissing my own girlfriend!"

He hated how M'gann stiffened and turned away from him whenever Conner entered the room. He hated the heated looks that broke awkwardly when he entered the room. He hated the superficial smiles that M'gann pasted on whenever he called her angelfish.

Why the hell were they dating again?

This last training exercise had chewed his last nerve. Nightwing had had the nerve to put Superboy and Miss Martian on a two-man team; like he didn't know that it was possibly the worst idea he'd ever had.

La'gann, still muttering, made his way to the training room. He needed to hit something. Preferably something-

_Heeellllooooo~ _La'gann thought, peering around through the one way glass to the unfamiliar woman who was already occupying the training room. _What do we have here?_

A woman, in her early twenties, was standing in the middle of the combat simulator like she owned the place. She was relaxed, in that dangerous stance of potential energy that Batgirl and Black Canary had mastered. _Eerie. _La'gann thought, furrowing his brow as she simply stood. Though she could just be a guest, or maybe even a possible addition to the team, something about her made his gut twist. At any rate, he couldn't let a complete stranger waltz around a Justice League facility- Robin would never let him hear the end of it. He touched the access panel, stepping into the brightly lit training room. "Hey- oh shit!"

Artemis whirled around at the sound of the door hissing open, her eyes narrowed. Who the hell- Wally said no one was supposed to be back for hours! She couldn't let anyone see her like this- god, why the hell did she think practicing in Mt. Justice was a good idea!

"Computer, we have and intruder!" La'gann barked, slamming his hand on the keypad with enough force to engage the automatic lock. Heavy blast doors slid across the glass, trapping them both in the room. "Get the Team over here, stat!" He then focused on the enemy in front of him, allowing a cruel smirk to grace his scaled lips. Neptune's beard, he really needed a good fight! "Maybe you guys can help me scrape 'er off the floor."

* * *

A scant five minutes later, Nightwing himself burst through the doors of the training room- overriding the blast doors with a flurry of fingers- and stopped short.

"Artemis?" he asked incredulously. She was the same as he remembered- long blonde hair, dampened maybe by a recent shower. Her shirt and pants were in tatters though; long rips through the fabric that shifted to show unmarked skin beneath. He frowned. Why would-

"Who's asking?" She snarked, looking him up and down with an unimpressed look on her face; or maybe she was giving the look to a crumpled Lagoon Boy, who was moaning on the floor a few feet away.

"Yeah, it's you." Nightwing muttered, massaging the bridge of his nose. "It's me, Robin. I go by Nightwing now."

"Huh, guess you weren't kidding about wanting to strike out on your own." Artemis mused, amused at the fact that the Boy Wonder was taller than her now. She'd always been tall for her age but Robin- er- Nightwing had at least three inches on her. Weird.

"Is there any reason you're here, concussing my subordinates?" It's not like he had many to go around, what with the League deciding to get all noble and throw the well-being of the world into his hands. He sighed.

"He's yours?" Again, with the unimpressed stare. She was really good at those.

"Sort of." He really didn't want to get into it, because if Artemis was anything like he remembered-

"What, so _you're _Den Mother now?" she snickered. She was positively gleeful. "Wally never mentioned _that._"

"You've been in touch with Wally?" Nightwing asked.

Artemis gave him a weird look, noting the raised note of urgency in his voice. "He came to drag me out of my little hole to help with you guys. Didn't you know?"

"Know?" Anger, hurt and something else he couldn't quite define leapt into his throat. "_Know?_ No one on this team knows anything!" He felt like someone was stepping on his windpipe, making it hard to speak. "No one will tell us what the hell happened on that last mission-"

"There's a reason." Artemis hissed, immediately on the defensive. She looked as angry as Nightwing could ever remember seeing her. That only ignited his own festering anger over being left in the dark for five long years.

"The hell there is!" He felt close to striking her. "Whatever happened on that mission, it changed Wally. He hasn't been the same since you left- he stopped being Kid Flash because of _you."_

In that moment, Nightwing wanted Artemis to watch what she'd done in slow motion to his best friend. Wally had _wilted_; he'd gone from the happy-go-lucky speedster that Nightwing had grown up with to a husk of the hero he'd once been. He'd been traumatized, Flash had told him, off to the side where they both hoped Batman wouldn't find out. Not physically harmed, but a psychological mess. Whatever the League of Shadows had shown him, it'd been enough to rattle the spirit right out of him.

Artemis looked like she'd taken a punch to the gut. "N-no, I just saw him- he said he was headed to Central City to help out-"

"When the League gets back, he'll fade into anonymity again. He'll go back to being Wally West, Stanford sophomore with a great career ahead of him." Nightwing's voice was bitter. "Whatever you did to him took the Kid Flash right out of Wally West."

"I didn't do anything." Artemis murmured. She slumped against the wall, her eyes on the floor. "We were captured- separated- I didn't know what was going on half the time." She lifted her eyes to Nightwing's and he thought, suddenly in that moment, that she looked _old. _Older than Batman on one of his bad days, even. "I thought he was fine- he _looked _fine and I… well, I had some after-effects of my own."

Nightwing didn't relax, and his eyes were still angry and narrow behind his domino mask. She sighed, pushing off the wall toward the exit.

"Don't worry, Dick. I'll be gone soon enough."

* * *

Alas, the plot thickens- sort of.

Another little hint at what happened on that fateful last mission with Wally and Artemis and the long-reaching repercussions of it. Both Wally and Artemis are still torn up about it- and as a traumatic event it's going to take a little more that being asked politely to get either one of them to spill. Think 'corner them and make them talk' or 'do extensive, privacy-violating background checks and government hacking then confront them with the truth' either will work. This is only going to be a five chapter fic, so I've gotta pack the next two chapters with a lot of action and heart-wrenching decisions.

Woohoo!


End file.
